Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Myth...myth...

Lori flopped down dramatically at the table, “I swear some days I feel like Pandora!”

“The music thing?” Jed asked.

“No not the music thing!”

“The jewelry company then? The one with all the little charms that middle aged soccer moms love. Are you something that middle aged soccer moms love?”

“No! Not that. The myth woman. You know the one that told the truth but nobody believed her.”

Janice shook her head, “That wasn’t Pandora.”

“No, that was that umm…Sisyphus.” Jed said pulling the name out of the deep reaches of his brain.

“No, not Sisyphus either. You mean Cassandra. Sisyphus was the king that was punished for pissing off Zeus and a number of other gods. He had to roll the boulder up the hill only to see it roll back down right before he was finished so he would have to start all over again. Pandora was the first human woman created by the gods. She was given a box that contained all of the evil in the world and was instructed not to open it. She, of course, did and boom here we are today.”

“Of course she did.” Jed said, “Can’t trust a woman. Just like Eve and the apple.”

Janice nodded her head, “Yes, just like Eve and the apple. Amazing how the creation myths written and passed down by men find a way to blame women for all the evils in the world right? Seems like that might be…”

“GUYS! We are getting a little side tracked here.” Lori really wanted to talk about her day.

“You’re right.” Jed agreed, “What I want to really know is if Pandora was responsible for all the bad stuff why would a music company and a jewelry company want to name themselves after her?”

“Most likely because 80% of the population just remembers the name from some class a long time ago and has no idea what Pandora’s Box really was.”

“But people look shit up all the time now. You used to be able to just say stuff and now everyone is an instant fact checker. You can’t fudge your numbers, or miss a quote. They are all over you! I’d have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for those meddling kids and their Google!”

“There is a difference between fact checking and learning though. Most of that stuff doesn’t stick. You look it up to win an argument, you read it off, you move along.”

“True. But still you would think we would remember more than just the names from the old myths.”

“People aren’t smart as a rule. No offense.”

Jed smiled, “None taken. I just am glad I was here to help you look smarter than the rest of us.”

“GUYS! I’m Cassandra!” Lori was a getting more than a little irritated.

“Oh right, okay, Cassandra, tell us what’s bothering you so we can ignore you and think you are lying.” Jed teased.

Lori rolled her eyes. “Are you all done yet?”

“Hmm…probably not, but you tell your story now.”

Janice laughed, “Yes, we will be good. Go on. How are you Cassandra?”

“It’s work. I swear I am always telling them how things are going to work out and they never believe me! See? Cassandra.”

“You’re always right?”

“Yes, Jed, always!”

“Narcissus.”

“Excuse me?”

“I think you are Narcissus, not Cassandra.”

Lori glared at him.

“She’s not like Narcissus. Narcissus fell in love with his own reflection and drowned. Lori isn’t vain.”

“Thank you, Janice.” Lori glared at Jed.

“It’s probably more confirmation bias.”

“What? Seriously?”

“Yeah, I mean nobody is always right. And if they never listened to you they probably would have fired you by now. So most likely you are only remembering the times when you were right and they didn’t listen to you and not the times you were wrong or the times they did listen. See? Confirmation bias. We all do it.”

Jed grinned, “Me too. You tell us all about it, and Janice will make supportive noises and I will make vaguely threatening remarks toward anyone who has wronged you. Then we will get drinks and toast to their eventual demise. All because they didn’t listen to the wise Cassandra.”